Luke 9:57-62
The Cost of Following Jesus
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
59 He said to another man, “Follow me.”
But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”
62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Luke 14:25-35
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. 27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.’
31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
John 17:3
Now This is Eternal Life
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
A life with a great job, a family, good friends, and comfort sounds good...These things make us feel secure on earth...But these are things that often keep us from following Him entirely...But it is very important to think about believing and following Jesus also...
One day Jesus tells a large crowd what the costs are of following Him...And this is not the first time, He gives us an idea of what it costs to follow Him...He told one who wanted to follow Him, that He must abandon His home to travel with Him...He said that the Son of Man had no place to lay His head, just like the fox of the woods...A Traveling Teaching who was always on the move from village to village, where we cannot choose the place we want to stay and just pick the ideas and teachings of His that we want to cherry pick and follow...When we follow Him we lose security and comfort...
But anyone can follow Him, and He offers Himself to everyone...So He turned to a large crowd following Him one day and bluntly spoke about what it costs for those who want to follow Him day in and day out...The journey with Him is a radical cost of differing things...Jesus makes it very clear that if we truly want to follow Him, God is to be the top priority in our hearts...He uses the word hate about father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters...By using the word hate, we see the He is the priority over everyone and everything, if we truly want to follow Him and be a disciple of His day in and day out...And He says whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple...And the cross in His time, especially before His death, was about a crucifixion the Romans did to criminals...The cross meant a tortuous death...Jesus wanted His Disciples to think about how He had been treated (and was going to be treated), and how they would get persecuted if they truly follow Him...And following Him is not something one does once a month or once a week...Disciples of His, carry His cross each and everyday...They know that they maybe picked on by their own friends and lose some friends...They may by following Him have troubles in their job for being a disciple of His each and every hour at work...Family members may not like you as a disciple with all the time you spend with Jesus and studying Him, and He says it is even more important than your own life...There will be resistance from others when following Him...
The He wants us to think long and hard about following Him before we do follow Him...He says, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower...Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?...For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn't able to finish.’...“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king...Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?...If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace...In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples...Following Him each day and everyday must be thought out...It is not good to start out as His disciple today, and next month just quit being His disciple...He does not want that, and like the builder of the tower and the king going to war, the thoughts about truly following Him each and everyday, must be thought about in much detail...If a disciple is on the fence about following Him or are only fifty-fifty about following Him, then He tells them to think again...We cannot follow Him, without being prepared as He outlines...
These are some hard and tough sayings, and no doubt He lost some followers along the way and even after this sermon -as He reiterated the cost of following Him...And when we really think these things and about our life, security and comfort are two things we want on earth, but security and comfort of earthly things are not what He offers...Our thoughts on what we see as security and comfort has to be looked at and studied...We need to reflect on what we think is important and what He says is important...He teaches us the eternities, and offers us eternal life with Him and His Father...